IT was a dream come true last night for Bahrain as the national team beat South Korea 34-29 in a heart-stopping thriller in Doha to deservingly win the Asian Handball Qualifying Tournament and thus book a berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, reports Vijay Mruthyunjaya.
Bahrain saved their best for last and, more importantly, the very best for the decisive final five minutes during which they grudgingly nursed a two-goal lead and increased the gap to three and later four before sealing the match in style by a five-goal margin.
“We are grateful for the tremendous support that handball has been receiving from Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa,” said Khalid Al Najem, secretary-general of Bahrain Handball Federation, according to BNA.
“It has been a fantastic tournament for us. Everybody in the team has been great, and the success is a source of great pride. We now look forward to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.”
Bahrain trailed 13-15 at half-time with the Koreans seemingly in command in front of their vociferous expat supporters at Duhail Arena in the Qatari capital.
But the nationals turned the match on its head with a brilliant display of total handball in the second-half, particularly in the last 10 minutes when they turned on the heat with some crisp passing, clever manoeuvres and pin point shooting.
Equal
The scores were equal on six occasions in the second-half alone and at 22-22 with 15 minutes remaining, it looked like the humdinger of a final was heading for a cliffhanger climax.
It was here that the Bahraini’s patience and perseverance were on display in equal measure.
Merza Ali and Fadhul Ahmed came up with some crucial goals while goalkeeper Ali Mohammed pulled off some fine saves.
In a matter of a few thrilling seconds Bahrain not only equalised through Ali at 17-17 but also went ahead for the first time through left-handed Ahmed’s acrobatic goal.
Ali was again on target and Bahrain were well on their way to a historic victory.
Ali top scored with seven goals while Ahmed contributed six. The other scorers for Bahrain were Ahmed Almaqabi (5), Ali Salman (5), Ahmed Mohammed (4), Hussain Alsayyad (4) and Saad Mahdi (3).
It was also sweet revenge for Bahrain as they had lost to Korea 31-30 in their last Group ‘B’ match to finish the preliminary round second with four points.
For Korea, Park Kwangsoon (7) and Kim Taegyu (6) were the main goal scorers.
Earlier in a placement match, hosts Qatar beat Saudi Arabia 31-21 to finish third.
On Friday, Iran pipped Kuwait to finish fifth while Hong Kong tamed India 30-26 to take seventh place.
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